Written by

The Tennessean

The road to a friendly foreclosure sale of the former home of Starwood Amphitheatre included the death of one of the site’s previous owners and the failure of the bank that had loaned that group money to buy the 65 acres at Murfreesboro Road and Hobson Pike in Antioch.

Vastland–Starwood Development Co., managing partner for redevelopment of the former concert venue site, said it gave up its interest in the property after being unable to reach satisfactory terms with the new holder of the note that finances the land. Vastland said it did that rather than take over payments at a much higher price.

“We had an opportunity to bid on the note, but we just decided to let them have the property,” said Ken Renner, vice president of Vastland Realty Group, whose principal, Mack McClung, was part of VastlandStarwood Development Co., which six years ago paid entertainment company Live Nation $4.25 million for the site. The group initially had plans to build a $100 million complex with 250 town homes and retail shops.

Before the friendly foreclosure, federal regulators had sold the loan to Newport Beach, Calif.-based investment firm Orange Murfreesboro LLC after Vastland was unable to negotiate satisfactory terms for assuming the loan, which was held by the troubled Tennessee Commerce Bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. took over that Franklin-based bank in early 2012 not long after the 2010 death of Wayne Wise, co-founder of trucking company Western Express, whom Vastland said was sole guarantor of the note.

“The first domino to fall was Tennessee Commerce Bank, and it made a couple of other dominos to fall,” Renner said.

He said McClung and Vastland Realty brought development expertise to that partnership including work on rezoning, adding that parent Vastland Cos. and its affiliates, principals and investors didn’t have financial exposure or indebtedness in the deal where Wise contributed the loan.

Efforts to reach Orange Murfreesboro, which now owns the former Starwood property most recently called Starwood Commons, weren’t successful. Such firms often buy loan portfolios and aren’t typically real estate developers.

After the original plans for the complex didn’t materialize, efforts were made to return the property to being a concert venue, at least temporarily. Later, the site was designated by the Tennessee Valley Authority as one of its top ready-to-develop sites for a possible data center.

Getahn Ward covers growth and development. Contact him 615-726-9568 or at gward@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter: @getahn.